It’s not easy to watch a grown man crumble, but when that man is actor Jack Stauffer playing the harrowing everyman hero Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s classic “Death of a Salesman,” the experience is unforgettable.

The Salinas actor was nothing short of riveting in the Hapgood Theatre Company’s season opener Oct. 9 at the Nick Rodriguez Community Center theater. With halting speech, a shuffling walk and furrowed brows, the talented actor became the exhausted, self-deluded salesman, “the little boat looking for a harbour” — and the eternal adolescent who goes to the grave never really knowing who he is.

With smart direction from Josy Miller, and a strong ensemble, the plays sails along at a good clip, captivating theater-goers with its poignant storyline and larger-than-life characters.

The Hapgood Theatre, now in its second season, should be commended for taking on such a heavy and challenging classic, which obviously attracted some top-notch actors from around the Bay Area and beyond.

In addition to the electrifying work of Stauffer, Adrienne Krug of San Francisco deserves praise for her performance as the enigmatic wife Linda, who stands by her defeated husband — despite his sometimes-dismissive attitude toward her. She’s also amazingly convincing as the hard-as-steel mother who chastises her son for turning his back on Willy, the father “who put his whole life” into working hard for his family.

Matthew Purdon of San Francisco also does a terrific job as Biff, the-once promising football star son, who threw it all away after becoming disenchanted with his father whom he caught having an affair. It’s disheartening to watch as he tries to convey his anguish to his philandering brother Happy who still lusts for money — and women— and believes the same dream as his father.

Elias Escobedo, meanwhile, is equally convincing as the still-bouncy younger son who epitomizes Willy’s bad points and appears to be headed down a similar self-deluded path.

The play roams through time, connecting current troubles with past traumas, as Willy, continually losing his grip on reality, hallucinates, recalling the past when his children were young, when he idolized his adventurous millionaire brother Ben (Dennis McIntyre of Antioch), when he visited his mistress and more. His son Biff tires to bring him back to reality, but Willy listens to the voices in his head from Ben, believing the only way he can die a success is to kill himself and leave his son his insurance money.

The action takes place at the couple’s home cleverly designed by Jason Miller with several levels and walls that move to reveal different times and places. The story is further enhanced by Miller’s effective lighting techniques, which bring us back and forth between reality and hallucinations.

There’s much to be applauded here in this timeless poignant classic, which remains fresh under the able hands of the Hapgood Theatre Company director and her strong cast. As wife Linda urges that “attention must be paid” to her good but flawed husband, so this troupe urges, with its passionate performance, that attention should be paid to this important everyman classic.

Judith Prieve is an East Bay assistant metro editor and oversees the Brentwood/Antioch/Oakley/Pittsburg News weeklies. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she has worked as a reporter, features editor and assistant metro editor at newspapers in Wisconsin and Northern California and has been at what is now the Bay Area News Group for more than 25 years.

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